ST. LOUIS (Legal Newsline) - A Missouri county will pay $900,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a man who committed suicide in its jail.
St. Louis federal judge Matthew Schelp on Jan. 9 approved the settlement between Reynolds County (and several individual defendants) and the family of Adrian Smith. Plaintiff lawyers at Walsh and Walsh LLC and Steward Law Firm will take $360,000 in fees.
Smith's mother and his two children will evenly split the rest.
According to the complaint, Smith had a history of diagnosed serous mental illness and threats of suicide. While in the Reynolds County Jail, Smith made multiple mentions and threats of wanting to take his own life, at one point even asking for the police to shoot him - five weeks prior to his suicide.
The Smith family alleged that the Reynolds County Jail, and those employed by and for the jail, denied Smith adequate and proper treatment for a known serious diagnosed medical psychiatric condition, which led to Smith's horrible and preventable death.
Smith died Nov. 19, 2018, at age 37. He had a history of suicide attempts, including a self-inflicted gunshot wound on June 2018 three months before his time at the Reynolds County Jail began.
His suicide note said he had asked everyone he could for help but was made fun of.
"I hear voices I see people that I find out later where (sic) never there," it said. "I'm being told to hurt myself and the people around me non-stop and I'm always scared I'll wake up and not remember I hurt someone."